I was born to write. I also love to speak publicly which I don’t think is the norm. Don’t get me wrong, I get nervous every time I speak in a crowd. But I push through it, I dive in, I dig deep, and something inside of me gets all lit up and I inspire others.

I just moved into a little apartment down the road from my job this past May. In the process, I unpacked boxes of things I hadn’t looked at for 4+ years. Previously I lived with my folks, and before that a ministry house so a lot of my stuff sat idle in boxes. In the unpacking, I came across some writings that were like 35 years old:

Poetry

Journal entries

Short stories

A play

A bunch of research papers

I kept a few of the good ones, got rid of most (cus who needs more stuff), and held onto the beautiful knowledge that I was born to write. I’ve always found a release and a joy in writing. This was my confirmation that starting my blog was the right thing for me to do right now.

Quilting?

I think of my life as an unfinished quilt. I look back at some of the squares amazed that I came through (getting sober). Other squares arouse feelings of extreme gratitude for the opportunities I’ve been given and the family I was born into. Overall, I see a masterpiece in the making. That is my hope for you.

Initially, I didn’t set any goals for myself with the statistics of my blog. I just wanted to start writing and getting my story out. I wasn’t sure my story would resonate with anyone in the personal finance world, but I also thought it might. Particularly those who may have thought it too late.

You see, I’m a late gamer, I’ve been redeemed from addiction, and turned my financial situation around. I told myself, if there’s anyone out there who is ready to give up, I want to my story to get to them. So I started to write.

What happened next took me by surprise.

People Are Mostly Awesome

I’d like to give some shout-outs to the kind folk who’ve helped me along the way.

Firstly, Jonathan and Brad gave me a shot to be a writer on ChooeFI early in the year. It was my first real experience with blogging which gave me the confidence to start my own.

ESI Money for writing an awesome 5 part series on starting your own blog. Each week, I’d eagerly await the newest article and figure out what steps I could take to inch me closer to getting my blog up and running. I followed a tailored version of his advice for picking my awesome logo. 🙂

Kevin Clack is the man! I met Kevin at CampFI Mid-Atlantic and he basically pushed it past the finish line and my blog was born! Kevin now does my hosting so we stay in communication.

I followed the awesome advice of Military Dollar to get on Twitter. This has opened my world to a great many opportunities.

Miss Mazuma, who I also met at CampFI, introduced me to a bunch of people on Twitter and pimped my blog. Are you starting to realize that CampFI events are an amazing way to meet FI minded people?!

Guy on Fire told me about a FinCon scholarship for new bloggers (see below for the results). 🙂

I got to go down to Dave Ramsey studios and share my testimony and do a debt-free scream. CampFIRE Finance featured my video and that certainly introduced me to more people.

With all of this momentum, my writing/editing has gotten quicker. I initially committed to publishing once a week. Now I am publishing twice a week.

Where This Blog Is Headed

I can’t quite predict for sure where this blog is headed but I can tell you this, I plan on continuing to write and produce quality content. I have so many stories to tell. And, of course, as I journey and work towards achieving Financial Independence (FI), I want to experiment and chronicle it.

This one I’m super excited about – Fred from Money With A Purpose and I are talking about doing something with our differing perspectives

Parent of an addict

Recovered addict

There’s a potential Ohio Blogger Meet up in the making thanks to Saving Joyfully for connecting Ohio bloggers:

FinCon18

There’s a financial conference which occurs every fall, called FinCon where money nerds from all walks of life come together. So I took a shot and applied for a scholarship to attend. And guess what?? I was one of 20 to win one!! Yay!

I could not be more excited! Each year the conference is at a different location and this year it’s in Orlando, Florida. BTW, if you want to get tickets, go here.

The Plutus Awards occur at FinCon and if you want to get crazy and vote for my blog in the People’s Choice Award, you can do so here.

I just started dipping my toes into the world of travel hacking. Fortunately, I racked up enough travel rewards points with my Chase Sapphire Preferred card that I was able to secure flights to and fro for 15,839 points total. If you are interested in signing up for a Chase Sapphire Preferred card with the potential to obtain 50k in travel rewards, click here. If you do, I will earn an additional 10k in points and so it’s a win/win.

Sidebar: when using credit cards I always recommend paying off the balance in full and on time each and every month. If you lack the discipline to do so, travel hacking may not be for you.

Closing Thoughts

Through blogging and sharing my testimony, I’ve had some women reach out to me for accountability. This is where the real magic happens – working with other people. My prayer is the quilt that makes up my life has many squares showing where I was able to journey with others…

Your back story is amazing. And you are a great writer and even better you have so much to share about redemption and overcoming! Some of us love to write but our lives have been very easy and, well, pretty boring in comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy and feel blessed with the boring life stuff, I’m not sure I could have handled all the challenges you’ve come through. But I do enjoy your writing and I bet you are a terrific speaker. I’ve done a lot of public speaking too and like you it scares me until I get started and then it really is a cool thing to do.

Yessss I love that Military Dollar was the one who convinced you to join twitter (she got me too). It seems a little silly that a social media platform could be such a big deal, but the friendships that have grown from Twitter are way more than that.

Sounds like the last 4 months have been a wild ride! You’re not the only one who likes to write AND be on stage. Some of us have worked out a way to do both as our day jobs. English/Drama teacher speaking! 🙂

Hello! My name is Deanna and I am happy to be on this redemptive path. I got sober from drug addiction/alcoholism in 2010 and returned to a faith in Christ. Additionally, I finished digging my way out of debt in 2017. Now I'm chronicling my journey toward financial independence while helping other women find their victories.